Bittersweet Reunion
by taigercreator
Summary: Just a brief look into how the new series might begin.
1. Chapter 1

The first snow. It crunched between her shoes and the pavement. Lorelai wondered at nature's ironic timing of her favorite time of year. Her walk led her to the corner of Main St. and glanced into the window at the cozy scene of the usual customers having breakfast within. Business as usual.

The door opened with a jingle. Immediately she made eye contact with the proprietor behind the counter amid counter washing. He rolled his eyes.

"How many cups is that?" he asked.

"Four?" she answered too sweetly. She hadn't had much sleep the night before. Too many details needed to be smoothed out, things her mother insisted were a priority.

"I should cut you off," he grumbled.

"You know the consequences of that," she wagged her eyes as she shoved her travel mug across the counter for his refill. He shook his head and poured what was left in the pot into her mug.

"Junkie," he grumbled again, but there was a smile in his eyes. She took the mug with a smile, their fingers touching mid exchange.

"You've got wings, baby," Lorelai said warmly. Luke looked around them to check they didn't have an audience and reached across the counter to pull her in gently for a kiss, hand cupped to her jaw. She lifted a hand to cover his own, it glistened with the wedding band she'd worn for the last seven and a half years.

"Eew!" a little boy's voice complained from behind them. Lorelai pulled away with a chuckle and turned to her favorite table to smile at the five-year-old sitting there. She came over and ruffled his hair, dark and curly.

"Hey, buddy, did you help daddy open the diner this morning?" she asked.

"Ah ha," he replied, his focus now back on the color page in front of him instead of his parent's kissing. His half-eaten pancake sat next to him.

"He was a big help," Luke smiled as he set down her usual pancake breakfast in front of her. "Helped me get the chairs down and put all the shakers on the table without spilling." The little boy looked up at his dad with a huge proud grin.

"I'm a big kid now," he said with glee.

"You sure are," Lorelai said. The diner's door jingled again and the boy's eyes grew big.

"Rory!" he shouted and tackled his big sister's bare leg, his head just reaching the hem of her gray pencil skirt.

"Hey, Liam," she said excitedly, she took the messenger bag from her shoulder as her mother approached. Rory sobered as the reason for her visit came fresh to her mind.

"How's grandma?" she asked.

"Oh, you know. Think that first visit to the hospital your grandpa took times ten," Lorelai said with a grimace. "Nothing I do is good enough, per usual, but she'll be happy to see you."

Tears threatened to come, but Rory was done crying and pushed them back, she knew there would be plenty of that later at the funeral. Instead, she pulled out her treat for Liam from her bag.

"Cool!" he exclaimed as he took from her hands a long hollow stem of wood.

"It's a rainstick. The ancient people in South America believed they could make it rain with this." Rory demonstrated by tilting the instrument vertically and a soft shhh came in mimic of a heavy rainfall. Liam was immediately enthralled as he began tipping it first one way and then the other.

"Mom, look, it sounds like rain," he said, holding up his prize to Lorelai.

"That's pretty neat, kid," Lorelai said. She herded Rory over to the table and they sat down.

"Ah, Luke, I think this world traveler needs a pancake breakfast, too," Lorelai called.

"Comin' right up," Luke nodded and went to personally cook up another order of pancakes and eggs for Rory.

"Hey Rory," several people called out from their tables in the diner. Including Babette and Miss Patty sitting at a blue table by the window.

"It's good to see ya, sugah!" Babette called in her husky voice, "I read that article you're mother brought over in the New Yorker. That's some real writing there, toots. And she told us you were doin' a story down in Chile."

"Yeah, I'm really enjoying this freelance work," Rory smiled, "Chile is a beautiful place, full of so many interesting people."

"Sorry to hear about your grandfather, honey," Miss Patty said with her usual honeyed tone, "Such a shame. That specimen of a man was cut down far too soon."

Miss Patty meant well, yet the mention of her grandfather stung as fresh as the first moment she got the phone call while she was in South America.

"Thank you, Miss Patty," Rory murmured. Luke sat a plate before her with extra pancakes and a steaming cup of fresh coffee. Rory look up and smiled at him in silent thanks for his way of comforting her. There was a brief touch of her arm before he went back behind the counter to go through the morning's receipts. Rory was glad to be home, even at the loss of her grandfather.

* * *

 **I came up with Liam as a name from a shortened form of William, Luke's father.**


	2. Chapter 2

The maid opened the door and curtsied, all five feet of her meek and stiff with stress. It boded ill for the mood the house's mistress would be in and Lorelai considered going back to the car to wait out the storm. She adjusted her hold on Liam, who had fallen asleep in the car on the drive and wasn't fully awake yet.

"You are late," Emily barked as she came upon them from the room immediately to the right of the entry way. "I would have thought that today of all days, you would have more respect, Lorelai."

"Look, Liam, it's grandma! Can you say hi?" Lorelai said, trying to avoid a battle. Usually, his presence had a softening effect on her mother, but today Emily wasn't going to play nice.

"Lorelai, he's getting all wrinkled," her mother chided, "all of your father's friends and colleagues are here and they will want to meet his grandson."

"I'm sorry, but he just woke up from a nap in the car. He wouldn't get out of the car unless I carried him," Lorelai replied warily. Luke nudged Lorelai and mimed he would take Liam upstairs. After a gentle transfer, Luke disappeared up the stairs with his son. Meanwhile, Rory had gotten Emily's attention and they were talking about her travels before her grandmother remembered something that needed to be done and Rory followed to help.

Lorelai found the bar and had to make do with a few sips of wine to calm her down before heading upstairs to her boys. She found them in her old room and smiled at them sitting on the overly feminine bedspread. For a boy who was usually animatedly cheerful, Liam was surprisingly sober. Lorelai sat beside him and was relieved that he wasn't quite so wrinkled as her mother had assumed.

"Gran'ma is mad," Liam said softly. Fortunately for him, Emily had always been more relaxed around the boy and so he had never seen her on the rampage.

"Grandma is just sad because of Grandpa," Lorelai told him.

"Because Grandpa is dead?" he asked. Lorelai nodded and felt a touch of emotion. Her father's death had affected her stronger than she had thought it would. They hadn't ever been close, even as their relationship had improved over the years. She hadn't expected to miss him quite so much. Maybe it also had to do with Liam. As much as her father had grown to love Rory, he had equally loved his little grandson. Liam in turned had loved Richard and Lorelai knew her son couldn't fully understand what had happened. Even after she had sat him down to explain it the other day.

"Okay," Lorelai said, shaking herself into a more cheery mood. "Hop down, let me smooth those wrinkles out." She knelt down before Liam and ran her hands along the pant legs to straighten out the fabric, tugged on the shirt a bit and straightened his zippered tie. Luke took a comb he had in his back pocket and ran it through his son's hair briefly.

"There we go, handsome boy," Lorelai said and Liam smiled. Luke took Lorelai's hand as they headed to the stairs, Liam hopping ahead of them.

"You going to be okay?" Luke asked Lorelai softly. Throughout the days since Richard had his final heart attack, Luke had been overly attentive to her needs.

"Luke, I'm fine," she said squeezing his hand, "Yes, I lost my father, but it's different than when you lost yours. My relationship with Richard was different than you had with your father."

Luke nodded once again at her reasoning, yet even though this was the second time she had said this, Luke still had his doubts. He was determined to be there when Lorelai finally let herself grieve properly.

They came down the stairs to a shrill voice talking above the low murmur of guest conversation. Everyone else went silent in the presence of Emily angrily berating someone.

"I paid you top dollar because I expect nothing but the best, yet nothing I see is right. That is wrong, this is wrong. Not one thing I asked for is right. This is a funeral for my husband! I . . . ."

Emily was going hysterical, and the lid was coming off. Rory tried in vain to calm her, but there was no stopping this tidal wave.

"This is not how anything was supposed to go. He promised me!" Emily said, now to no one in general. "He promised." All watched in shock as the most proper woman in all of Hartford, all of Connecticut, burst into tears in the middle of her carefully tailored gathering. No one knew quite what to do. Rory was about to steer her out, but Lorelai beat her to it as she deftly whisked Emily out of the room and into her father's study.

"Poor lamb," Sissy murmured to her group of D.A.R. friends.

Lorelai sat quietly beside her mother as the tears slowly ran out and there was only a sniffle left. It had been years since Lorelai had ever seen Emily cry like that. Come to think of it, she had never seen her mother cry like that. Witnessing it had pulled a few tears from her own eyes.

Presently, Emily dabbed delicately at her cheeks and nose with a white cloth handkerchief and looked up at her daughter.

"I'm sure I've made a complete fool of myself in there," she said.

"Mom, Dad is gone," Lorelai said gently, "I think you can use your get out of jail free card today."

A pained look crossed Emily's face.

"It's so hard, Lorelai," she said, another sob on the way, "I don't know who I am without him. My whole adult life, I have been Mrs. Richard Gilmore. What am I going to do?"

Unfamiliar at comforting her mother, Lorelai was unsure how to respond. It had surprised her how automatically she had taken her mother by the shoulder and guided her away from the crowd of sympathizers.

"I can't even imagine, mom," Lorelai said softly, "I can't even think about how it would be to lose Luke someday, I couldn't breathe if I did."

Emily nodded in understanding and then took in a deep, fortifying breath before standing.

"Thank you, Lorelai," she said, fiddling with her handkerchief. Lorelai smiled and stood with her, a hesitant touch between them, before Emily headed back to her guests.


	3. Chapter 3

A few weeks later, Luke came home and Liam greeted him in the foyer. Scooping up the boy, Luke walked into the living room as he asked Liam about his day, noticing as he did the large Victorian style dollhouse from Lorelai's childhood sitting on the coffee table. He hadn't seen it in years, and Lorelai had told him that Jackson had broken it by accident. But then, how was it back in their living room again?

"Where's your mom?" Luke asked Liam. Liam's eyes showed concern as he thought of his mother.

"Mama is upstairs crying," he said. Alarmed, Luke sat Liam down and hurried up the stairs to the bedroom. Lorelai was curled up on her side, cuddling her pillow. Her face was tear-streaked and red.

Luke approached her and knelt on the floor beside her, rubbing circles into Lorelai's back. Silently she handed him the crumpled note she had been holding for him to read.

The note was from Emily, stating that she had been contacted by a shop that had been holding the dollhouse for Richard. Apparently, Sookie had contacted Richard about the dollhouse, intending for her and Jackson to fix it themselves. However, Richard had taken it upon himself to help pay for it to be fixed and returned to Lorelai. The dollhouse had been fixed years ago, and the repair shop had been keeping it for Richard. Emily had no idea why Richard had waited so long to give Lorelai the dollhouse, and so Emily had it delivered to her daughter.

Luke sat on the bed and placed a hand on her thigh. She sat up and made a grim smile as she leaned on his shoulder.

"I know it's dumb, crying about dollhouse," Lorelai murmured, voice raw from her tears.

"You know it's more than just that," Luke said.

"Why do you think he did it?" she asked.

"Why?" Luke asked in surprise, "Lorelai, he's your dad. He knew you loved that house, he was the one who brought you the house in the first place. He loves you, did love you, and I think you've never been sure of that. Richard never seemed to know how to express his feelings to you. Something I can relate to."

"Maybe so," Lorelai said softly, "but then why did he keep it stored for so long?"

"I don't know. Maybe he was planning to give it to you in a special way. The past several years have been pretty eventful. Us trying to mend what we broke, then things went crazy planning the wedding. For a while, we were a little up in the air about the house, and then we had Liam. He probably wanted to wait until we were settled again."

"I guess," Lorelai said.

"He loved you, Lorelai. I know he did," Luke said. Lorelai smiled and bumped him with her shoulder before sitting back up.

"Look at you, still my favorite superhero," she said and kissed him, "Thank you." She caught sight of Liam peeking in on them in the doorway. She held her arms out to him.

"Hey, come here," she said. Liam smiled and ran over to her, climbing into her lap. Luke stood up from the bed.

"I'm going to start dinner."

"I want to cook dinner!" Liam cried. Lorelai shook her head in disbelief.

"He's definitely your son."

Luke grinned as he took Liam's hand and they went down to the kitchen. Lorelai watched them retreat and understood now why Sookie had been so happy for Jackson to have a son to prune the trees with.

* * *

 **As I was writing, I realized that neither of Lorelai's parents ever verbally tell her that they love her. I know there were a few episodes where there was a look or gesture, but never really any assurance of their love. So it hit me that Lorelai might have some insecurities about that.**

 **Anyway, I think this little project is finished. Just wanted to write a few scenes that I imagined in my head. Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, apparently, I lied when I said I was done. Bonus chapter!**

* * *

It was 6:45a.m. when Lorelai quietly slipped into Liam's room. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and Liam's eyes opened to see his mother smiling at him.

"Good morning, birthday boy," she murmured as she slipped under the covers beside Liam and cuddled with him.

"Hi, mama," he smiled, knowing what was coming as he snuggled close to listen.

"So, six years old. How does it feel?" Lorelai asked.

"It feels the same," Liam smiled. Lorelai smiled back and squeezed him.

"You know, you are an awesome kid, and the best little boy a mom could ever dream up," Lorelai said. Liam grinned as she continued, "and it's hard to believe that six years ago, at exactly this time, I was lying in the same position. Only I had a big, fat stomach and huge fat ankles, and I was swearing like a sailor on leave."

"'Cause I was in your belly," Liam interjected, excited to help tell the story. Lorelai nodded.

"So, there I was, waiting for my good friend Demerol to kick in, and deadening all the nerves in your father's right hand. It seemed that the only way to get my thrills was to pelt the doctors and nurses with ice, a great pastime of mine. I even got your dad to throw one or two, he was about as annoyed by the medical establishment as I was by the end. He had a very good aim."

"Daddy got one of the nurses, and the ice went down her shirt," Liam added.

"Yes, the nurse was scandalized and your dad was beet red," Lorelai said as Liam giggled.

"Then grandma and grandpa came," Liam said.

"Who's telling this story, me or you?" Lorelai asked in amusement. She gave him a little tickle, causing him to laugh. "Yes, they did show up, and then I started pelting ice at grandma. I swear she was, even more, wound up than I was."

Liam giggled.

"Many have called it the most meaningful experience of their lives, but to me, it will always be akin to doing the splits on a crate of dynamite," she continued, "The doctor held you up in the air, all covered in goo. Your dad, the look on his face. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. Awe, disgusted. But man, the way he looked at you when he got to hold you. Pure love."

"Daddy cried," Liam said with a grin.

"He sure did, he was so happy to see you," Lorelai said to Liam and kissed the side of his head.

"I did not cry," Luke said from the door of Liam's room, arms folded over his chest. He had come downstairs to head to the diner and had stopped to listen quietly to Lorelai tell Liam the birthday story, smiling as he remembered everything clear as if it were yesterday.

"No need to be defensive, Luke. We both know you cried, don't even deign it."

Luke shook his head and sat on the bed,

"I didn't cry. If you remember, you woke me up at 11:50 that night and I had only gotten about an hour and a half of sleep before that. I was tired, my eyes were bloodshot."

"Oh aha, I see," Lorelai nodded with a smirk, "Hey, did you know that denial is also a river in Egypt?" Luke rolled his eyes and looked at Liam.

"Happy Birthday, Liam," Luke said as the boy crawled over into his lap. Lorelai smiled sleepily as she watched Luke engulf their son in his arms.

"Mom, you forgot to tell the Rory part," Liam said from Luke's lap. Lorelai put her hand on her hips.

"I did not forget, your dad interrupted me," Lorelai said with a glare at Luke.

"No need to be defensive, Lorelai, we both know you forgot," Luke shot back at her with a smug smile. She responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

"Anyway . . . your sister stayed out in the waiting room with your grandpa, she was always so squeamish about childbirth, and she especially didn't want to witness me going through it. But when the doctor finally went out to tell her and your grandpa, she was in the delivery room faster than Jeff Gordon at the Indy 500."

"And she got to hold me after daddy," Liam added.

"Yep, and you will never see anyone hold a baby as awkward as your sister. It was like she was holding a bomb." Luke chuckled at that, remembering how he had handed Liam over to Rory and how she had held the baby away from her body. Watching Rory had made him nervous and he had tried to help her out, with little success.

"I smiled at her," Liam said.

"Rory claims that you smiled at her first, but I am pretty sure it was just gas," Lorelai said with a grin.

"April had wanted to be there when you were born, but she couldn't get out of New Mexico in time," Luke added.

"April got to come a few weeks later," Liam said, "She made me the solar system mobile."

"Yeah, she did," Luke said with a smile, "She did a really good job, too."

"Are Rory and April going to call today?" Liam asked.

"You know it," Lorelai said, "and they sent you some presents."

"Awesome," Liam said and was now fully awake, while Lorelai wanted to go back to bed. She yawned and stood up.

"Time for coffee," Lorelai said.

"You can go back to bed if you want," Luke told her, "I can handle the kid."

"Nah, might as well get to the Dragonfly early and get some work out of the way so I can focus on Liam's birthday party later this afternoon."

"Right," Luke said as he remembered his own responsibilities, "and I still have to get all the food prepped."

They walked out into the kitchen and Luke got Liam's breakfast ready while Lorelai went up to get a shower.

Later that day, the Stars Hollow Ballpark was filling with guests for Liam's birthday. Lorelai found herself missing Sookie as she set out the cake from Weston's that Liam picked out. It was shocking when, out of the blue, Sookie had announced that she was publishing a cookbook.

Now suddenly, Sookie was flying across the country on a book tour where she was cooking recipes from her book and awing the masses. Sookie had become officially too fabulous to hang out with, in Lorelai's words, and Manny was entrusted to handle the Dragonfly's kitchen until Sookie's return. Sookie promised it wouldn't last long and she would return to her to the inn before the year was up. Lorelai still got to see Sookie in between trips when her friend was home to be with her family, but Lorelai still missed her and knew Sookie would be sad she couldn't bake Liam a baseball cake this year.

"I don't know why you chose this filthy place to hold a party," Emily's judging words breaking into Lorelai's thoughts. She groaned inwardly as she placed the cake beside the hamburgers that Luke had provided. Why had she invited Emily again? Oh right, because Liam wanted to invite her. He was lucky he was cute.

"Liam wanted to have a baseball party. Ergo the baseball field," Lorelai said.

"Baseball. I suppose that's all Luke's doing," Emily muttered. Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Nice mom, just when I think you finally accepted Luke as my husband. It's been almost eight years now, he's not going anywhere. I like that he shares his favorite things with Liam. I want him to have what Rory and I have."

"But it's such a low-brow sport," Emily said, "Why couldn't be cricket or rugby?"

"Well, for one thing, Luke isn't English. Besides, those sports are more aggressive than baseball is."

Lorelai glanced over at the baseball diamond where Liam and his friends were lined up to swing the bat with Luke standing on the mound to pitch the ball.

"Hey, Lorelai, sorry we're late," Lane said as she entered the field with her boys beside her. Steve and Kwan stood with their mother, nine years old and already standing a head under Lane's five feet. It was had to believe that this woman, who once danced to Rancid under Lorelai's own roof, could be the mother of these two young boys.

"Hey guys, everyone is taking a turn trying to hit a homerun before we all eat," Lorelai said.

"Okay," the boys' said in unison and ran over to the line of kids.

"So Lane, how was that gig you guys played in San Diego?" Lorelai asked as she took Lane's offered gift and placed it on the table with the others.

"It was really great. There were so many people there, I think it was the largest audience we've ever played for! Did I tell you the latest song Brian wrote is 112th most downloaded on iTunes? Zach was pretty jealous that it was one of Brian's songs and not his, but I was able to bring him around."

"Lane, that is amazing! Man, with Sookie in Cincinnati for her book tour and Hep Alien playing hits, makes me wish I had followed through on my plan to join the Bangles for their comeback tour," Lorelai joked.

"From what I hear from Rory, having the Dragonfly featured in Travel & Leisure magazine is nothing to sneeze at," Lane said.

"You never told me you were featured in Travel & Leisure!" Emily cried in disbelief, revealing that she had been eavesdropping on her daughter's conversation.

"I hadn't had a chance to," Lorelai said. Lane winced and mouthed an apology.

"Honestly," Emily grumbled.

"Okay!" Lorelai called out to the kids, "if you'll come on over, it's time to sing Happy Birthday!"

The party had been a success and even Emily seemed to have a good time in the end. Luke and Lorelai were cleaning up after, while Liam was playing with his friends.

"Good job with the food, burger boy," Lorelai teased. Luke smiled as he smashed down the trash in the park's can to fit more. Lorelai linked her arms under his and laid her chin on his shoulder. Luke turned so he could hold her.

"Is my taking out the trash getting you hot?"

"Burger boy is getting me hot," Lorelai grinned, before Luke kissed her. For a short time, they kissed before Lorelai pulled away.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you," Luke answered.

"We did pretty good, didn't we?"

"With the party?"

"No," Lorelai said, "not just that, all of it. Our life together."

Luke gazed at her in that way that made her giddy and sometimes clumsy.

"You bet."


End file.
